Steve James is the Sunday Telegraph's cricket columnist. He also writes on rugby. He played cricket for Glamorgan and England but is just as proud to have represented Lydney and Gloucestershire at rugby.

Is a World Test Championship a good idea?

Lots of talk at the moment about a World Test Championship. But I just can’t get excited about it. I just don’t think it will work. It will be too complicated. And anyway fixtures are already determined to the end of 2012 and will soon be so until the end of 2016. And Test cricket does not lend itself to a knockout tournament.
I can see the logic. There is considerable concern about the future viability of Test cricket. We can become blasé about it in this country because of the continued support it musters here. But elsewhere crowds are pathetic.
Something must be done and floodlit Test cricket is a good idea. If only a suitable ball can be found (thankfully that problem has scuppered the ECB’s thoughts of holding the Bangladesh Test at Lord’s under lights next year). Red ones cannot be seen under lights. White ones only last for 34 overs (when there are mandatorily changed in one-day matches). You could use one at each end but then you’d have to use coloured clothing – Tests not in whites? Surely not. And pink ones are unproven, although I like the notion of the MCC v Durham pipe-opener being played with one under lights in Abu Dhabi next season.
But please not floodlit Test cricket in this country. We must realise that it simply doesn’t work. Not even at county level. OK, it does work, but for about two weeks in the year. For the rest of the time the weather is either too light, too cold or too damp from dew. In my opinion the ECB has wasted a criminal amount of money on installing permanent floodlights at county grounds.
What do you think? A World Test Championship? Do you like your floodlit cricket? Let’s hear from you.